If you’ve been keeping up with Pixel news lately, then you probably know that a number of prototype units for both the vanilla Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7 Pro are already out in the wild. Google has generally done a good and swift job hunting these down remotely and “bricking” or deactivating them in some manner, but that hasn’t stopped tinkerers from snooping around in what is left like boot logs to dig up specs.
A few more low-level details have now been unearthed. In no particular order let’s start with the new Tensor 2 chipset. The new leak reaffirms that the Pixel 7 custom GS201 chip will still use a 4+2+2 CPU core design and will also keep using Cortex-A55 cores, as evidenced by a specific workaround spotted in the boot logs. As far as we already know from other leaks the two “big” Cortex-X1 cores will also be carried forward from the original Tensor. The original design used old A76 cores instead of the latest Cortex-A78 (the last of the ARMv8 medium cores), which might end up being the only potential swap. That said, we still don’t know what Google has planned for the GPU and other hardware.
Google Pixel 7 Pro prototype live images
Speaking of other hardware, this is not the first time word of a new display panel for the Pixel 7 Pro has surfaced. This new leak reaffirms that at least the particular prototype unit being examined has a new Samsung-made S6E3HC4 panel replacing the old S6E3HC3 one in the Pixel 6 Pro. This panel swap is likely the reason behind the uptick in maximum brightness as reported by software as well – 1,000 nits and 100% APL (the entire screen is on), up from the current 800 nits. The display’s resolution is expected to stay the same at 3,120 x 1,440 pixels, but now with an added native 1080p mode to potentially reduce power usage.
Google Pixel 7 Pro
Other findings from the latest round of prototype log snooping include a new Cirrus Logic CS40L26 chips for haptics which is apparently one generation newer than what is found in the Pixel 6 Pro. Hence, we can probably expect better haptic feedback from the Pixel 7 Pro.
Finally, the STMicroelectronics ST54K NFC chip has now been swapped for a simpler ST21NFC, which no longer includes UWB functionality on the chip itself. That doesn’t mean UWB is gone from the Pixel 7 Pro. It will just be handled by a separate chip.
